


What We're Facing

by ironxprince



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Civil War (Marvel), Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Precious Peter Parker, Protective Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:06:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21738814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironxprince/pseuds/ironxprince
Summary: Peter fights his first battle post-Civil War alongside Steve Rogers. They get trapped together, and have nothing to do but confront some demons.Note: can be seen as both team Cap-friendly and not. Please don't ask for specific tags to be added. Read at your own risk and with a grain of salt.
Comments: 24
Kudos: 204
Collections: Best Tony and Peter





	What We're Facing

**Author's Note:**

> I tried writing this in the present tense, so it may be incoherent with tons of grammar errors. Be warned.

The Rogues are back.

They had spent a month in the Raft - Steve, Wanda, Sam, Clint, and Scott - before making a deal with Secretary Ross to remain on house arrest unless they were needed to fight. Thirty terrorists attacking Romania with guns and grenades definitely warrants the involvement of Captain America and the Falcon, which is how Peter finds himself charging into battle alongside Tony, Natasha, Steve, and Sam.

Peter hasn’t had any contacts with the Rogues since he fought them in that airport, hasn’t heard a word from them since Tony returned, bloodied and bruised, refusing physical contact from anyone and everyone. Evidently, he isn’t psyched to be around them again, but the fight needs to be fought. So, Peter Parker charges into battle alongside Steve Rogers, the man that had transformed from one of his greatest heroes into one of his greatest enemies overnight.

Tony tried to hide the truth of Siberia from Peter, but he couldn’t hide the haunted look that crossed his features when he thought Peter wasn’t looking, the way his hands shook and nightmares and panic attacks seemed to plague his every waking moment. Tony tried to hide the truth from Peter, and so maybe he thinks Peter will have no issue being assigned civilian duty with the Captain, because he doesn’t know as much.

Tony thinks wrong.

Peter charges toward the nearest apartment building on Tony’s orders as Steve chases behind him, fighting the tingling at the back of his neck that tells him danger’s following. Steve’s a friend, Peter knows he is, but he doesn’t think he’ll be able to completely forget the violence Steve is capable of. He learned how easy it was for Steve to turn on one of his closest teammates and friend - how long before he turns on Peter, too?

Peter ignores the nagging in the back of his mind, putting all of his personal fears and worries aside as he clears the building, floor by floor. He and Steve work together to get all the stragglers out and return to the lobby, taking a single step toward the glass doors, just in time to see a grenade fly over their heads, supposedly through a window into one of the floors above. Steve barely has time to lift his shield above them before there’s a deafening noise, and the building collapses.

✧ ✦ ✧

Peter’s head aches. His ears are ringing. He coughs, and dust flies. It’s dark.

He peels open his eyes, and fights to keep from jolting back. Steve’s face is right before his, and he’s shouting something that takes Peter a moment to decipher.

“Hey.  _ Kid _ . Spider-Man. C’mon, eyes open. You alright?”

Peter blinks lazily, his breathing labored as he slowly scans the space around them. There’s not much to look at.

They’re trapped in a space barely big enough to fit the two of them, debris surrounding them on all sides. There’s fallen rock all around them, and a large slab of stone forming a roof-like framework looming above. His heartbeat quickens when he realizes he’s too close to Steve. Too easy of a target.

Then, he notices a large rock pinning down Captain America’s leg. Peter allows himself a moment of relief, realizing there’s something to hinder his largest threat, until he realizes his entire body is currently buried under rubble, pinning essentially everything below his shoulders to the floor. He’s immobile, and his leg is twisted in an unnatural way. It must’ve happened in the building collapse. It feels wet, slick… coated with blood.

Broken.

But Peter doesn’t say anything about it. It’s not like he can reach it, or ease the pain, anyway, and he doesn’t know if Steve would even help him. At least the pain is dull now. Shock. It’s not unbearable, yet.

Peter is alone, immobile, in a small space, with his biggest threat lying across from him. At least he won’t be using his weapon, Peter realizes with the slightest hint of relief. Steve had managed to prop the shield up in order for it to assist in supporting the ceiling.

“Spider-Man, you with me?” Steve asks, and Peter manages to lift his eyes to Steve’s face, the face that is too close to his, the  _ body  _ that is too close to his. Any minute now Steve could attack him, do to Peter what he had done to Tony just months ago, and Peter won’t be able to stop him. No one will come to help. In the end, Steve could say it was the rubble that killed him.

Peter doesn’t know why Steve would target him, but the possibility still sends shivers down his spine.

His face is still fixed on Steve’s, and the air is getting thin. Peter finds it harder to breathe and his heartbeat begins to escalate. Blood seems to blow faster from his leg, and the wound begins to throb, pain ebbing its way through the haze in Peter’s mind.

He’s on the verge of a panic attack.

What will happen if he falls into it? Will Steve help him? Is he even equipped to? Will Peter die, right here, right now, buried under several floors’ worth of stone?

No.  _ No _ . Peter refuses to freak out, not now. But he needs- he needs  _ air _ . He needs to breathe, or there’s no hope for him. Giving no thought to it, he rips his right arm free of the rubble (it comes with scratches and cuts he can already feel beginning to bleed) and rips off his mask.

Peter drops his forehead to the ground as he takes a deep breath, breathing so loud and elevated he almost misses Steve’s shocked gasp and the  _ shit  _ that escapes his lips.

“You’re a kid,” Steve says quietly, astonished. Peter doesn’t even lift his head from the rubble, but he does feel the panic attack ebbing away… and the pain in his leg increasing. He bites hard on his lip to keep from making a noise. “Last summer at the airport…” Steve continues, unknowing of Peter’s injury. “How old are you, fourteen?”

“Fifteen,” Peter manages to gasp, lifting his head from the ground. Captain America looks shocked, almost  _ guilty _ .

“You fight very well for a fifteen-year-old.”

“You should know,” Peter said humourlessly, “with the amount of strength you were fighting me with.”

Steve sighs and drops his gaze. “I’m sorry about that, kid, really, but there was stuff going on you wouldn’t understand-”

“I know Tony was trying to keep the Avengers together, and organized, and held accountable, and you almost killed him over it.”

Peter doesn’t know why he wants to challenge the man now. Maybe it’s the months of accumulating anger and resentment finally reaching their climax. Maybe it’s the memories in Peter's mind of Tony, sitting in the lab, his back to the (locked, always locked, door) staring at nothing for hours on end, or maybe it’s just something to distract him from the pain and fear he feels. Maybe feigning bravery will help it manifest.

An intense fire begins to blaze behind Steve’s eyes, and Peter finds himself shrinking back into himself. Steve still has his arms and most of his body free. If he gets too upset, Peter will be completely at his mercy, and with his broken leg… Peter has no hope of any kind of a fight between him and Captain America.

“The government isn’t always the good guy. Something you should understand. Working with them wouldn’t have been in the Avengers’ best interests.”

For a moment, Peter considers agreeing, feigning compliance - he’s not in a spot to argue - but then he remembers the shell of a man that returned home in the place of Tony, suit in tatters behind him as Rhodey guided him inside, and new strength blazes to life in Peter’s chest.

“No, it would have been in  _ your  _ best interest. You didn’t fight Tony so you could go against the government. You fought six people who used to be your friends to protect one man whose safety could’ve been better ensured if you just talked through your problems!”

For a moment Steve says nothing, just watches Peter with an inscrutable expression.

“What’s your name?”

Peter swallows thickly. “Peter.”

“Well, Peter, these are things you won’t understand until you’re older. Things get more complicated as you grow up. They’re not always black and white, and for now we should focus on getting out of this as oppose to fighting each other.”

“We’re not escaping until we’re freed, and we’re not freed until the battle ends, so we might as well discuss,” Peter shoots back. “What happened in Siberia?”

Steve stills, his mouth hanging open slightly. “How do you….” His voice comes out hoarse, and he has to clear his throat. “How do you know about that?”

“Rhodey told me where he had to go to find Tony, and when he  _ did _ , Tony was bruised and bleeding and immobile, trapped inside his own suit, left alone in the freezing winter, probably to  _ die _ , with the arc reactor broken. Did you know the shrapnel had been removed from his chest, or were you aiming to kill?”

Steve’s face pales. “ _ Shrapnel _ ,” he whispers sharply, almost to himself. “I forgot… Peter, I didn’t mean to kill  _ anyone _ , I assure you-”

“So to you, fighting two-to-one and leaving said one in a frozen tundra to  _ die _ , is different than striking the death blow yourself.” Steve doesn’t respond, and Peter continues. “Do you know the nightmares you gave him? The panic attacks? He  _ trusted  _ you, and you broke that trust. You might’ve killed him. You might’ve killed  _ all  _ the Avengers you fought against. Heck, if I lifted my arms a second later, that storage container you dropped in the airport would’ve killed  _ me _ .”

“So,” Steve says quickly, nervously, in an attempt to change the subject, “that, and now…” he waves his arm in the limited space around them- “ _ this _ \- you get caught under things often?”

“Three times, now,” Peter deadpans, ignoring the guilt that once again crosses Steve’s features, fighting the hot flashes and nausea that begin to spread throughout his body as a result of the broken bone. “But that’s not the point. You did wrong, Steve. You went against your own team, you fought them, you  _ hid  _ from them, for one person.”

“It’s not just  _ me  _ who’s at fault-”

“You’re lucky they still trust you to be out on the field with them.”

Steve falls silent and bites down, hard, on his tongue, his eyes narrowing slightly in the shadows of the rock. Peter continues talking before the fear at Captain America’s murderous expression manifests and shuts him up for good.

“I know part of the blame rests on Tony, too. To be fair, he  _ did _ try to talk, but maybe he could’ve tried harder,” Peter continues, quieter. The pool of blood around his leg is growing thicker - he can feel it dampening his suit’s pant leg, as much as Tony tried to insulate it - and he feels himself becoming weaker, more tired, but he can’t stop now. For Tony. “Tony wasn’t trying to kill you. That was never his intention. But that seemed to be all that was on your mind.”

Steve stiffens, and his eyes grow wide. He opens his mouth to answer, but before he can get a word out there’s a groaning, a shift in the rubble, and Peter winces, ducks his head down, prepares to be buried - and then the weight is lifted from his back.

Peter opens his eyes to daylight shining through a small crack above him and he turns his head sharply, hissing at the pain in his leg, but not stopping. Directly above him, through the small gap, is the Iron Man suit, rubble being shoved aside and held back with his gauntleted hands. A grin breaks out across Peter’s face, and it takes all he has to keep from cheering.

“I’m glad you two had fun down there as we were fighting for our lives out in the real world,” Tony teases in a monotonous voice, “but the fun’s over. Come on, out. You first, Spider-Man.”

Peter places his arms beneath him, braces himself in preparation of the pain that will arise the moment he moves his leg - and then, he freezes.

Because he might be free, but Steve’s still stuck.

Peter turns his head back to Steve, and the man was waiting for him to move, watching him with a,  _ what the heck are you doing why are you still here  _ expression, but Peter had ignored similar expressions from Tony in the past. One from Steve wouldn’t hurt.

“I’m going to lift the rock that’s trapping your leg,” Peter says slowly, still debating whether or not the plan would work.  _ Yes _ , he thinks - he hopes. “That’ll shift the rubble, but we have to hope the shield will keep it up in time for you to escape-”

Steve cuts him off before he can finish, Tony’s voice almost drowning him out.

“Absolutely  _ not _ ,” Tony shouts, at the same time Steve exclaims, “And how will  _ you  _ get out?”

“Peter Benjamin Parker,” Tony threatens through, what sounds like, gritted teeth. And if Peter can hear gritted teeth  _ through  _ the echoes of the helmet? Tony must be  _ livid _ . “You get out here,  _ right now _ . We’ll figure something else out for the Cap, because he’ll still be safe. You do this, and there’s a chance you won’t be.”

Peter shakes his head, his eyes focused solely on Steve’s. “That’ll take too long. The rubble might shift, and I wouldn’t want anyone to be trapped down here longer than they’d have to be.”

Tony takes a deep breath. “Peter-”

“One,” Peter counts, eyes focused only on Steve, who nods once. Peter’s ready, Steve’s ready… he’ll deal with Tony’s anger later.

Tony’s voice grows in volume. “Parker, I swear-”

“Two.”

“Don’t you dare-”

“ _ Three _ .”

As quickly and swiftly as possible, Peter plants his left foot, his uninjured one, beneath him and forces his hands above his head, to the ceiling. He ignores the pain ricocheting down his right leg, white flashes flying across his vision. He forces himself up, forces his shoulders against the ceiling, forces his injured leg beneath him for extra support. His body screams in protest. He might black out from the pain, but he forces all his might upward anyway, tries to push the rubble away, just enough to grant Steve the room to escape.

Dust falls.

There’s a loud groaning noise.

The rubble shifts.

Peter thinks back to a falling storage container, a collapsing parking garage, the other times he could’ve dropped the weight and given up - but now, it’s not an option. Despite the fact that this weight is heavier than anything he’s ever lifted, despite the fact that his ankle is twisted in a way it wasn’t safe to be, despite the fact that he’s rapidly losing blood, he’s becoming weaker, he feels lightheaded, he doesn’t give up - because Steve is moving beneath him. He’s crawling his way over to the gap Tony had created in the rocks. He’s almost there, he’s almost out, he’s disappearing into the daylight-

Rubble shifts.

Peter’s arms tremble.

His vision fades.

Peter gathers all the strength he can, tenses his (weak) muscles in preparation, hopes and prays his one-and-a-half good legs will keep him going for just  _ one more moment  _ \- and he releases his grip on the stone above him, throwing his body toward the daylight.

✧ ✦ ✧

Everywhere Peter looks, it’s white. Unnaturally white. Someone turned up the brightness on the world, and now it’s painful to look at. He closes his eyes again.

A slap to the side of his face. He groans as he peels his eyes open. There’s someone above him, just below a bright blue sky, panicked, shouting. Peter can’t comprehend why.

A second face. Blond hair, blue eyes.

Worried.

Memories come flooding back - trapped, Steve, Tony, sacrifice - along with the pain.

Peter cries out as his leg throbs, as his nerves involuntarily spasm, as hands touch his leg and his ankle and move it around. There’s more people around him than Tony and Steve, Peter guesses. They’re all talking, all shouting, all moving, all communicating. There’s a multitude of sounds erupting from all around him that his exhausted mind weakens to a dull roar as his vision fades in and out, so he doesn’t hear Tony as he watches the man’s lips move, as he braces his hands on Peter’s shoulders and presses them to the pavement, as more hands press steadily to his leg. Peter doesn’t understand why-

And then, there’s pain.

_ Agony. _

Fire shoots up and down his leg. It twitches, jolts back and forth, as a thousand tiny needles pierce his skin. Peter tries to shove upward but Tony’s gauntleted hands are forcing him down and he struggles fruitlessly, body growing weaker. His head drops back, exhausted, but pain not the slightest bit alleviated. His head pounds. His ears are clogged with water.

His eyes close.

✧ ✦ ✧

Peter blinks groggily. There’s a bad taste in his mouth; something copper.

Blood.

He’s been biting down on his tongue,  _ hard _ .

He’s lying on a bed of some sort with poor cushioning. The lighting’s dark, slightly graying, and Peter hears the dull roar of an engine.

He’s on the quinjet.

He feels… weird. Numb, in a way. It’s not unpleasant; just… odd. At least he’s not in pain.

“About time you joined us.”

Peter rolls his head to the side to identify the source of the voice and sees Tony, wearing the Iron Man suit minus the helmet, his face and hair covered in scratches and grime. He looks tired, but he still manages to put on a smile. Peter opens his mouth to ask a question (or a thousand), but his mouth feels full of cotton, and nothing comes out. “Don’t try to speak. You’re currently hopped up on pain meds. We had to reset your leg. You’re lucky we had the Cap’s special super-soldier-enhanced medication on board. They’re a bit much for you, but our mere mortals’ Advil wouldn’t have worked, so you just gotta rest as your body works it off.”

Tony sighs and the corners of his mouth twist into a frown as he watches Peter with an expression somehow split midway between pride and disappointment. “I’ll lecture you about your idiocy later. For now….” He nods his head to the opposite side of Peter’s bed, and Peter lolls his head to follow his directions. Steve is sitting there, eyes sad but smiling nonetheless, as Tony stands and walks toward the front of the ship, leaving the two alone.

“I’m glad you’re alright,” Steve starts quietly. Peter tries to smile to prove it, but in his current state, he can’t be sure what the actual outcome is. Steve’s expression shifts until he’s staring, confused, at Peter, head cocked. The image of a golden retriever wondering where his toy went forces its way into Peter’s mind, but he shrugs it away. He doesn’t think laughter would be appreciated in this situation.

“Was your leg like that the whole time we were trapped under there?” Peter shrugs and nods once, confirming the fact, and Steve’s face morphs into wide-eyed shock. “And you didn’t say anything?” Peter shrugs again, and Steve sighs. “Guess I should stop asking you questions if you can’t answer. Just… you’re really strong, kid.” Peter lifts the corners of his mouth slightly, but Steve averts his gaze before he can notice. “And… you were right. What happened last summer never should’ve. I was childish. I should’ve stopped it before it escalated. So I want you to know… while you were out….” Steve takes a deep breath, and Peter gets the impression Captain America doesn’t apologize very often.

“Tony and I talked. We had a conversation. I apologized… he did, too. And now, I’m asking for your forgiveness.” Peter nods quickly, smiling wide. The corners of Steve’s lips quirk up, as well. “I’m glad. Thank you.” He pushes himself to a standing position, looks out toward the cockpit. “You should get some rest,” he says quietly as he begins to step away. Then, he stops, looks over his shoulder. “You’re really smart, kid. I’m glad you’re on my team.”

He walks away then, leaving Peter alone with a thoughtful expression as he stares up at the ceiling. Then the boy closes his eyes, drifting off to a peaceful sleep with the acknowledgement that Captain America is, once again, his hero.


End file.
